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From: hurtta@cs.Helsinki.FI (Kari Hurtta)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,alt.religion.computers
Subject: Re: ANSI C prototypes
Message-ID: <HURTTA.90Nov5160323@hydra.Helsinki.FI>
Date: 5 Nov 90 14:03:23 GMT
References: <1005@christopher-robin.cs.bham.ac.uk> <1906@necisa.ho.necisa.oz>
	<RJC.90Nov1145211@brodie.uk.ac.ed.cstr>
	<1990Nov2.030556.27759@ccu.umanitoba.ca>
	<RJC.90Nov3153129@brodie.uk.ac.ed.cstr> <3933.27353319@cc.helsinki.fi>
Sender: hurtta@cs.Helsinki.FI
Distribution: comp
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Finland
Lines: 48
In-reply-to: jaakola@cc.helsinki.fi's message of 5 Nov 90 09:38:33 GMT

In article <3933.27353319@cc.helsinki.fi> jaakola@cc.helsinki.fi writes:

   It's okay for me to make an include file, where I declare functions that
   are visible to other modules. But consider the following example:

	   static void auxiliary_func(a) /* private helper-function */
	   int a;
	   {
		   ...
	   }

	   void visible_fun(b)
	   int b;
	   {
		   ...
		   auxiliary_func(b+1);   /* should be checked */
		   ...
	   }

   The point is, why should I have to tell the compiler twice the type of
   auxiliary_func? The prototype should be necessary only if I make a
   forward reference to make it easier for the compiler to check types in a
   single pass. I think the function definition tells unambiguously the
   types, so I should not have to watch warnings such as "function
   definition used as a prototype" (Microsoft C 5.1).

   Ok, I could turn off such warnings in Microsoft C 5.1, but this turns
   off some useful checks as a side-effect! Please, Microsoft, make a
   "prototypes-off" switch into Microsoft C for me!

Why not:
	   static void auxiliary_func(int a)
	   {
		   ...
	   }

	   void visible_fun(int b)
	   {
		   ...
		   auxiliary_func(b+1);  
		   ...
	   }

- K E H
( hurtta@cc.Helsinki.FI
  hurtta@cs.Helsinki.FI
  HURTTA@FINUH.BITNET
)